Take It As a Yes
by cherryredxx
Summary: A detention in which parchment airplanes are made, a girl cries, and an unlikely romance blossoms. Written for a challenge on HPFC.


**A/N:** This was written for a challenge on Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges Forums, in which I had to incorportate a minimum number of quotes into the dialogue. I've cited the quotes in the text!

It was a typical Friday at Hogwarts. It was springtime - another lovely day with the sun shining, birds chirping, and flowers blooming. Classes were ending for the day, and most of the students were rushing about, excited to have two days free of classes.

There were five students, however, who were a bit less than excited.

Blaise Zabini was caught after curfew in an empty classroom, snogging an extremely embarrassed Hannah Abbott. Theodore Nott was busted while skipping Potions class that morning, and Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley had to be forcibly separated from each other after lunch when they were both seen in a dueling stance with their wands drawn. These five students, aside from getting in trouble, had one very important thing in common: they were all caught by the same person.

And so, on this glorious Friday in mid-April, these four students were not able to enjoy the sunshine and daisies. Instead, they all sat around, miserably waiting for their detention with Snape.

Seven o'clock rolled around before any of them could even blink an eye, and all five of these students grudgingly made their own way down to the cold, dank dungeons. Based on the foul mood that Snape had been in for the last few days, each student knew that their detention would not be a short one, nor would it be a pleasant one. All of them, including the students from Slytherin House, knew that this evening's punishment would be rough.

When all five of them were situated inside the clammy Potions classroom, Snape stood before them. He walked around the room, cloak billowing behind him as he took the time to glare at each student in that evening's detention session.

He spoke in his normal, slow drawl. "Because of your actions, each of you will be spending the next few hours in detention. However, it has come to my attention that there is another pressing matter going on outside of the classroom that needs my attention; therefore, you will be left unattended for a short while. If I find out, and I will, that any one of you has done anything inappropriate while I am gone, I can assure you that the outcome will be most _unfavorable_ for all of you. You will spend the next few hours, sitting at your separate desks, doing homework. You are not to talk, or get up, or do anything else. Is this understood?"

Hannah Abbott gulped audibly, raising a hand shyly. "Excuse me, Professor?" she said quietly. "What if someone needs to go to the lavatory?"

"You are permitted to go, one at a time." He paused, glancing around the room malevolently. "Are there any other pressing concerns?"

When no one answered, Snape turned on his heel and exited the classroom, swirling his cloak behind him, without another word or further instruction.

The five students sat in the classroom silently for quite some time. Ginny and Hannah worked adamantly on their homework, Theodore made parchment airplanes, and Blaise fell asleep. Draco Malfoy, however, did nothing.

Giving off an intentionally annoying sigh that broke the deafening silence, he kicked his legs up onto the bench. He reclined so far back in his seat that it was a wonder he didn't fall over, crossing his elbows behind his head. "This certainly is an exciting use of my time," he stated to no one in particular.

Ginny, who was sitting at the bench in front of him, slammed her quill against her textbook. She turned to face him, glaring unkindly at the obnoxious blond. "Well, Malfoy, if you learned to keep your stupid mouth shut, we wouldn't be here," she said firmly.

Draco smirked at the angry redhead. "And, Weasley, if you learned to keep your bloody temper in check, you might have friends."

"Now, now, children," Theodore said from across the center aisle. "No need to be harsh. I know you two don't get along, but surely there must be worse things that you've endured."

"Aside from being possessed by a diary, not really," Ginny said, crossing her hands over her chest.

"Well, there you go then!" Theo said cheerfully. "If you had to choose between that and detention, wouldn't you choose this?"

She snorted. "If I had to choose, I would choose to die.8"

"Can I hit her?" Draco asked Theo.

Ginny didn't allow him to answer. "You can't hit me; I'm a girl."

"See, Weasley, I disagree with that statement. Why is it that a woman can hit a man, but a man can't hit a woman?" He gave her a wink. "Don't worry, love. See, what you don't understand is that my fists are bisexual: they hit both boys and girls.41"

She gave off a sound of disgust and muttered something under her breath as she turned around, going back to her homework, leaving Draco bored again. Sighing dramatically, he ambled over toward the sleeping Blaise Zabini, kicking him hard in the shin.

Blaise woke with a startle. "What in the bloody rotten hell was that for?" he yelled.

"You looked so peaceful; I almost didn't want to kick you,46" Draco said innocently.

Irritably, the darker Slytherin boy said, "Well then why did you?"

"Mostly out of boredom." The blond boy ungracefully sat in the chair beside his friend.

The two boys were joined shortly by Hannah, who decided that Blaise's lap was a more appropriate place to sit than the chair beside him. "Oh, Blaise, I wish we could be somewhere else," she said.

Draco frowned. "Like where? Snogging in another classroom so that you could get another detention?"

"Lay off, Draco," Blaise said lightly. He turned toward his girlfriend, adopting a sickeningly sweet expression along the way. "Don't worry, sweet. I promise I'll make it up to you. Getting caught was entirely my fault." He leaned in, kissing her deeply and eliciting a soft moan from her lips.

Draco stared. "We're all going to throw up on you.2"

Ginny lifted her head from her book. "Oh, leave them alone, Draco. You're just jealous because you can't find a single decent girl who is willing to kiss you."

He walked to her slowly and planted his hands on the top of her desk. Leaning forward, he whispered in her ear, "Would you like to volunteer for the job, Weasley?"

Seductively, she bit her bottom lip and leaned forward. Her lips were less than a centimeter away from his. She could almost feel his lips brushing against hers. Before they touched, she whispered, "Not on your life, Malfoy." Ginny giggled as she pulled away. "Now, I have officially fired you from talking.23 For the good of the group, please, just be quiet."

"Why should I?" he retorted.

"Because, I don't want to get in trouble with Snape, okay? Please, I'll_ pay you_ to shut up!"

Draco pondered this. "How much? I won't accept anything less than a sickle!18"

Ginny decided not to answer, instead banging her head into the desk repeatedly.

"I think you broke her," Theo said. When Draco sat down beside him, he whispered, "Why can't you just be nice and tell her that you like her? You're always making fun of her, but you know she's gorgeous. Why do you have to always lie?"

He lifted his chin. "You can lie to women. They aren't people.10"

"You make me want to bang _my_ head into the desk."

Draco sighed, slightly defeated. His best friend was making out with the Hufflepuff girl, the girl he likes was so annoyed that she was purposely giving herself a concussion, and his other best friend was trying to convince him to admit his feelings for the aforementioned girl. He was bored.

Blaise finally came up for air, and the blond boy took the opportunity to annoy somebody else. "Hey Abbott. Did you know that you're the prettiest man I've ever seen?17"

Hannah immediately brought her hand to her face, which began puckering as she started to cry.

Blaise wrapped his arms around his girlfriend. "You're an arse!"

"Yeah, lay off of her, Malfoy," Ginny added, getting up from her seat and standing in front of him, placing her hands on her hips. "Just because you are a right git and can't get a girlfriend, it doesn't give you the right to pick on somebody else's. Grow up!"

Draco stood. "It isn't my fault that the girl can't take a joke. It was funny! It was _cute._"

"It's not _cute_! She cried!7 You don't even know Hannah; why do you keep picking on her?"

"Because Blaise and Theo are my friends, and you're too annoying!"

"No, Malfoy. You won't pick on me because you _know_ I'll fight back."

"No, Weasley. I don't pick on you because I _like_ you!"

"No, you – what?"

"Damn it! Are you happy Theo?"

"Well, you're talking to the right girl now," Theo said thoughtfully, "and you told her you like her. Those are both improvements."

"Well, all of these improvements are bad!1 Malfoy, I _hate_ you. I always have, and I always will. Don't ever talk to me again!" Ginny voice reached a climax – a shriek so loud that everyone was compelled to cover their ears.

When everything was calm, Draco looked at the redheaded girl again. "You want to go on the next Hogsmeade visit with me?"

"No!"

"I'll take that as a yes.45"

"No, you bloody well won't. Merlin, why won't you just leave me alone?"

"Because _I like you_, Weasley, and you're going out with me, whether you want to or not."

"Uh, I don't think that's how this works.9 Usually I only go out with people that I actually like."

"Well, usually a Malfoy doesn't admit feelings for a Weasley, but here we are."

"You're insufferable!"

"You're annoying!"

"You're all in quite a bit of trouble, as a matter of fact."

Snape's voice stunned all five of them into silence. None of them were in their assigned seats, and none of them were doing their homework.

The Potions Master walked first to Blaise and Hannah. "Miss Abbott, I do believe you were assigned to a seat, not a lap. See to it that you find it. Mr. Zabini, I don't recall asking you to snog anyone." He walked over to Theo and picked up a parchment airplane. "May I ask what class this is for, Mr. Nott?"

"Sorry, sir."

Snape dismissed him and stepped to the center of the classroom, where Ginny and Draco both were still standing and glaring at the other. "Mr. Malfoy, Miss Weasley, I was certain that you'd finished with your name-calling this afternoon in the Great Hall."

Ginny, who had honestly tried to do homework, glared at Draco before taking her seat.

"Sir, I wasn't even trying to insult her," Draco offered. "She was being unreasonable and –"

"That's quite enough, Mr. Malfoy," Snape said, effectively cutting Draco off. "Each of you will have detention with me, every day for the remainder of term, including weekends. I will speak with your Heads of Houses, Miss Abbott and Miss Weasley, and I assure you that none of you will be joining your classmates in Hogsmeade, either. Go back to your dormitories, now, and I will see you in detention tomorrow."

Almost in tears, Ginny stood up abruptly and left the classroom, unaware that Draco was close behind. He grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him. "Ginny, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you in anymore trouble."

"Yeah, well you did," she spat. "You right git; you did a damn good job of ruining the rest of my year!"

"Well, at least you can spend the rest of the year with me," he offered.

She stared at him blankly. "Are you still hitting on me?"

"I was trying to make you laugh. I guess it didn't work.27"

Much to his surprise, she actually began to chuckle softly. "So, you like me, do you?"

"Are you agreeing to be my girl, then?"

Smiling, she said, "Not on your life."

Draco put an arm over her shoulder. "I'll take that as a yes."


End file.
